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The star composer of film music, John Williams, has not only written some of the best music for the biggest films. He is also a master at manipulating our emotions, when his music makes us cry one moment and shudder in terror the next. But what can film music do? And is there a reason why the classical symphony orchestra has been the filmmakers' preferred instrument since the birth of the film?

Strauss was 84 and in the autumn of his life when he composed Vier Letzte Lieder – a song cycle for soprano and orchestra. The songs are about saying goodbye to life, but there is no dirge about Strauss's work – rather a clarity. The music is sparklingly beautiful, and together with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra this evening, the Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg, who since her employment at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin from 2013-15, has been in demand on opera and concert stages all over the world.

The only 27-year-old Hjalte Ross is both a local city kid and a citizen of the world. The young person from Aalborg has already achieved significant recognition abroad – he is praised in media such as Rolling Stone Magazine and The Guardian, and there are probably still more people who know his name outside Denmark's borders than here at home. But Danish music media have also praised his three albums Embody (2018), Waves of Haste (2020) and his latest intimate, self-produced Less (2023).

We spread cushions on the floor and are looking forward to welcoming the orchestra's youngest audience again – the 0-3 year olds. For a good half hour, a cello, a flute and a singer will take the children into the wonderful world of music, where there is room for play and presence. The atmosphere is relaxed, and there is no compulsion to sit still

Meet the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra's musicians in smaller ensembles when they play works they have chosen themselves because they are close to their hearts.

Warm, romantic melodies almost line up, and it all culminates in a magnificent final movement. Brahms' unique melodic abilities are not denied in this his 1st symphony, but he also had to spend more than 20 years composing it. As a young man, he is heralded as Beethoven's heir, and this hampers him so much that he is unable to write major symphonies for many years. When his 1st Symphony was finally premiered, the conductor Hans von Bülow stated that "it was like the premiere of Beethoven's 10th." – and that statement was not praise, but a subtle hint that the work was a copy of Beethoven's. Posterity, however, has no doubt that the symphony is unmistakably Brahms.

The story of the Mother of the Sea covers a recurring ritual among the Greenlandic Inuit: When the catch failed to materialize as a result of the people's overconsumption and greed, the settlement's angakok (shaman) had to travel down to the Mother of the Sea to comb her hair free of human dirt. Only in this way were the animals of prey released, after which the humans could survive.

The end of the season will be a tribute to the vibrant American musical life, and inspiration has been drawn from jazz, blues, bebop, rock'n'roll and the cabaret genre. It begins with Duke Ellington's charming musical portrait of the New York district of Harlem. He takes listeners on a Sunday morning walk – in his own words: “We walk from 110th Street up 7th Avenue, north through the Spanish and West Indian Quarter towards the business district that is on 125th Street... You can hear a parade go by past, or a funeral, or you can recognize the music of those demanding civil rights.”

Here you will be presented with upcoming highlights, you will hear the musicians tell what they are most looking forward to, and you will get stories about works and composers – both the well-known and the exciting new ones on the programme. And then of course the orchestra plays lots of musical treats for further inspiration.

The girl Tone loves to make up stories and music, and to explore all the images that are inside the music. Now she plays conductor, which means that she will decide everything all the time – all games and all music must be exactly how she wants it. But how does a good conductor actually conduct? And how long can you decide everything before your friends turn their backs on you?